The Smell of Burnt Flesh
by ChocolateChip-Master
Summary: Keith didn't know burnt flesh could smell so bad until it was his own skin he was smelling. / Part 11 of my BTHB!


**For the 'shock collar' prompt on my Bad Things Happen Bingo card!**

**Anon requested: Shock collar for Keith with maybe the rest of the paladins unable to help him?**

**Absolutely! This was super fun to write :p**

* * *

Keith couldn't quite find where the collar started and where it ended.

Though he had to admit, that kind of was the _purpose _of a collar, but normally, he'd be able to feel some sort of _groove. _A place where the two pieces clearly connected, but there appeared to be nothing of the sort.

_Where was it?_

The collar began humming. Keith tensed himself, sinking his teeth into his lower lip. He'd already worn holes in the skin there and he squeezed his eyes shut.

The electricity came when he least expected it. It always did. Keith tried to prepare himself every time, but either he had too much time or too little. He sat in anticipation, holding his breath until it arrived, or it came without warning and with little preparation. This was one of the times where it was 'too little.'

Keith threw his head back, withholding a painful scream that bubbled up deep in his throat. He could feel his pulse beating against the collar, accelerating, faster, faster, _faster-_

The electricity was everywhere. In his bloodstream, in his organs, probably coming out his ears, too.

It cut off with a quiet click somewhere in the collar. Keith could taste blood from his lip and he licked it away, copper filling his mouth. He raised his head to glare up at the camera in the corner of his cell. He knew the Galrans were watching, probably gloating. An Agent of Marmora, theirs at last.

Keith raised his hand back to the collar, continuing to feel for grooves. The only ones he felt could hardly be even called 'grooves'. It was the heat of the collar melting into his flesh, fusing metal and skin into one grotesque mess. He could feel raised skin, almost like it was growing over the collar. It would hurt like hell to get off, but Keith was _not _leaving it there.

He twitched involuntarily, electricity still coursing through his system. His hand trembled horribly upon the sleek collar. Everything felt muffled - like he was wearing earmuffs.

God… Keith really was fucked, wasn't he?

The Marmora motto was always 'the Mission before the Blade'. Keith had failed his mission. Therefore, the Blade wasn't coming for him. And, his only hope of rescue, (Keith's heart wrenched at the thought of Shiro) didn't even know he was missing to begin with. He was entirely on his own.

Which sucked.

There was no telltale hum for the next surge of electricity. It came without warning, tearing a surprised cry from Keith's throat. He clamped his lips shut, curling his hands into fists on the collar's surface. Blood from the broken skin on his lip streamed down his chin. He threw his head backward, smashing so hard into the wall that stars appeared. That only served to make the pain _worse _. He whimpered.

Was the electricity going on for longer than normal? Was it normally so long that his Adam's apple bobbed against the collar, that his pulse began beating against the collar, going faster and faster?

_Oh god-_

The collar shut off. Keith gasped - half in relief and half just to get oxygen into his lungs - and braced himself against the wall. He panted, his throat raw and dry. The collar had fused itself to his skin further still. A little more and it'd be impossible to get off.

Desperate now, Keith began searching the collar. He felt around the skin fused to the surface, around the blood clotting around it.

He paused. His heart stuttered.

There was an area of the collar that hadn't yet been melted into his skin. He fingered the area, wiggling his index finger in-between the tiny opening. He glanced at the wall and then felt the area again, a rapidly forming plan concocting in his head. It was stupid, half-assed, but it just might _work._

Without thinking on it more, Keith angled his head out of the way and smashed the collar into the wall.

He made sure to aim for just the right spot on the collar and bit back a cry of pain as the collar pulled and ripped at the skin it had fused itself to. He closed his eyes tightly and repeated the motion. There was an audible tearing noise - something like flesh ripping with a horrible _squelch _\- and Keith yelped. Warm blood gushed down his neck.

He did it again.

And again. Over and over until he heard the collar hum. It activated, electricity rendering his mind blank.

Keith gritted his teeth. He wouldn't let the blinding pain stop him. He wasn't staying in here for the Galra to toy with.

He was going to get _out._

Keith let out an animalistic war cry before smashing the collar's weak point against the wall again. His angle was off. His jaw blossomed with pain, electricity exploiting the sudden weak point. Keith actually screamed then, the combined agony of his jaw, the tearing of his skin on the collar, and the electricity becoming too much.

He almost collapsed then, throwing out an arm blindly to catch him in his fall. He blinked furiously, dark spots dancing in his eyes. The electricity shut off and Keith held his breath desperately. He wondered briefly if the Galra were too. Watching him through the security camera. Wondering what he'd do next.

Keith gave the camera a glare and moved to angle his head again. His jaw was throbbing. His wounds ached, blood gushing from in between the cracks he'd torn in his own skin.

The collar started humming. Keith propelled himself forward faster.

The collar hit the wall with the hardest force Keith had thrown at it so far. The good news was that he heard it crumble, a jagged crack running through the side. The bad news was that Keith misjudged his angle again and had hit his already tender jaw against the wall full-force.

He felt the bones snap in his jaw, copper flooding his mouth. He let out a loud cry of pain, stooping as he was pumped full of electricity again. The damaged collar made it weaker than normal, but Keith could hardly handle it.

A raw, guttural scream tore itself from his throat. He keeled forward, holding his jaw as the electricity wracked his weakened system. The collar sparked. One last powerful surge shot through his system before it shut off.

Keith let out a heavy breath, cradling his jaw in his hand. It was swollen, almost the size of a tennis ball, and hanging in a way it clearly shouldn't have been. Keith spat blood out of his mouth and lifted his shaking fingers to the broken collar. He dug his fingers into the destroyed flesh that he'd torn from the collar and began pulling with all the strength he still had left.

It gave way a moment later. There was a horrible _rip _noise as fraying, melted skin came off with it. Keith dropped his hands, unable to look down at the collar smeared with his own blood, strips of his own skin melted into it.

He sucked in a deep breath and nearly gagged.

The smell coming from his own neck was nothing short of _putrid. _It was acrid and burnt Keith's nose as he inhaled. Like burnt meat, potent and rancid. Smoky, like someone had left burnt bacon in a pan overnight.

Keith realized what he was smelling a moment later.

It was his own _flesh._

His own horribly burnt skin.

He retched, keeling over and emptying the meager contents of his stomach onto the ground. Opening his jaw hurt like hell, but he couldn't help himself. Green bile stained the corner of his cell. Keith trembled, still jittery from the after-effects of the electricity. He lifted himself, resting back on his knees, his toes curled underneath him.

He raised his gaze upward - towards the camera - and fixed it with the angriest glare he could muster.

_You're next _the look seemed to imply.

He hoped the Galra felt fear.

He rose unsteadily, looking far from heroic with a broken jaw and burnt, ripped skin on his neck, but he couldn't care. He gripped the collar in his hand, blood and melted skin slick under his hands.

He raised his arm and threw the collar as hard as he possibly could. It smashed into the camera, tossing it to the side. The lens cracked, beyond repair, the arm completely bent. Keith dropped his stance, daring the Galra to do anything to stop him.

He'd do whatever it took to get out.

The camera flickered and went dark.

* * *

**Honestly, this feels a lot more like 'torture' towards the end, but most of the wounds were self-inflicted. **

**I've written with a collar before (i.e. To Change the Sun) and have dealt with electricity coming from it as a result of hacking gone wrong, but I've never done anything like an actual shock collar before. It was fun! Also, please add 'scent of burnt flesh' to my internet search history. I'm on like every government watch list ever at this point. **

**And, to the lovely anon that requested this: Thank you so much for the prompt! I hope this was to your liking, it was a lot of fun to write! Thank you for reading! **


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